Black Water
by chatoyer
Summary: After tracking down the cat burglar who stole his favourite pen, Roxas is drawn to the self-assured, carefree life Axel and his friends live. As he delves deeper into their world in hopes of escaping his own disillusioned life, he discovers darker truths beneath the freedom he had envisioned, and must decide which reality is ultimately worth wagering for.
1. Suburbia

I jumped into this story without giving much thought as to what direction it was heading in, so I apologize if this first chapter doesn't offer much in terms of plot. I've had the chance to discuss and brainstorm ideas with a friend after writing this chapter however, so I now have some kind of mental compass to guide this fic. I can almost-probably-maybe promise it'll pick up within the next chapter!

Rated **M** for sexual themes, coarse language, and violence.

* * *

 _Perspicacity: keenness of mental perception and understanding_

 _Pellucid: transparent, clear in meaning, expression or style_

 _Penury: extreme pover_

The pen came to a stop mid-word as the sound of a light knock – the kind that was distinguished as two polite taps using the knuckle of one's forefinger – against the open door, pulled Roxas's attention away from his notebook. Looking up, his eyes met with the familiar black and white attire that was required of all staff members while in the house.

"Your parents request your presence, sir. Dinner is prepared."

Dinner? Startled, Roxas's eyes darted down to the luxurious metallic black watch adorning his left wrist. The time read 6:05 p.m., indicating that his parents were undoubtedly gathered downstairs, waiting for him to start their meal. Realizing he must have lost track of time while writing, Roxas quickly placed his pen down and closed his notebook, leaving the last two letters of the word "poverty" for a later time.

Recording new and challenging words had become a bit of a hobby for the blond over the years. Of course it didn't start off that way; his parents, being the exceedingly affluent people they were, expected a level of well-learned sophistication from their child. Even – or rather _, especially_ when he was only the tender young age of three, and had only just started to string together sentences that were longer than three words. For this reason, Roxas was forced to memorize difficult, rarely spoken words (like insisting that a dish had a very piquant flavour, for instance, instead of simply calling it delicious) from a young age, and had to regurgitate them in the presence of his parents. This chore eventually turned into a compulsion; whenever Roxas would encounter a word foreign to his sizable vocabulary, he could not go on with his day until he figured out what it meant. And henceforth, he would record these newfound words down on paper to ensure he would never be caught off guard if he ever crossed paths with that particular word again. He had thus accumulated dozens of notebooks filled with small ramblings, the occasional record of the day's events in chronological order, and a plethora of words with their definition – along with an example of the word used in a sentence if he thought it was necessary. He enjoyed most, coming across new words by chance, but he also took pleasure in flipping through a dictionary and absorbing anything and everything unfamiliar to him. This by no means meant that Roxas spoke in the well-read manner of his cultivated mind, in fact he reserved these grandiose words only to impress guests and other well-spoken individuals, as per his parent's request. The rest of the time he spoke in a minimally polite manner. And according to his friends, many would say he was often quite crude.

As Roxas hastily made his way down the long, winding corridor of his house, he silently cursed himself for not paying attention to the time. Dinner always started precisely at six in the evening, no matter the occasion. Furthermore, Roxas was not the type to be late for anything. His parents had instilled the importance of punctuality from the time he could start crawling. He couldn't remember the last time he wasn't already seated at the table, spooning himself a well garnished soup by five past six. Being aware of such a fact only made him more unnerved, as if he had deliberately disobeyed his parents.

Maybe they'd given up on waiting and had already begun eating dinner… Maybe they didn't care at all, and he was just overthinking the whole thing. It was unlikely, but filling his head with maybes was the only thing that kept Roxas calm. Like for instance, maybe if he had more empathetic, encouraging parents, he wouldn't suffer from a constant feeling of inadequacy. It was just a theory, but he never voiced it, of course. As he reached the bottom of the stairs and circled around to the dining room located on the first floor, past the foyer, he felt the wishful maybes sink right to the pit of his stomach, where all good feelings went to die.

His parents were both in their respective seats at the dining table. Aoelus, his father, was seated on the left end, and his mother, Betrice, was to the right. Aoelus was distracted by what appeared to be a document, likely something to do with the business, but Betrice was staring with careful concentration at the clock hanging on the wall across from her. She had her arms crossed, the index finger on her right hand was tapping incessantly against her upper left arm. Neither of them had any food on their plates. As if Roxas's presence had pulled her out of an entranced state, Betrice's tapping ceased, and her gaze shifted to the left where her son was silently making his way to the table.

"I see you've decided to join us." She snapped her fingers once, which signaled to the two maids – who were standing against the wall with such trained stillness they would hardly be noticed if one casually glanced around the room – that they were ready to be served. The two young women immediately began grabbing dishes from the serving cart, issuing them around the table.

Roxas swallowed thickly as he took his seat in-between both his parents. It was a long enough table that he never had to make direct eye contact with the cold unwavering expressions of his guardians, but it also made him feel small, as if the distance from his parents revealed how insignificant his existence was to their lives. It was a feeling he could never quite explain when he tried to convey it on paper, but it was something he felt very strongly nonetheless. He especially hated having to sit in this seat when he was a child.

"I apologize. I was distracted by my homework and lost track of time."

"Hm." Betrice commenced eating her soup without looking at Roxas, as if pondering whether his excuse was worth a response.

Aeolus, who was finally finished with the documents in hand, removed his reading glasses and handed both items to one of the maids readily waiting by his side. His eyes, the same blue as Roxas's, but seemingly dulled with age, looked tired, but otherwise his expression was almost always inscrutable. He unravelled the cloth napkin on the table and smoothed it over his legs. Roxas's eyes were easily his fathers, as was his blindingly blond hair, but the rest of his facial features belonged to his mother – particularly his small pointed nose and sharp chin. He always felt he looked far too feminine and childlike with his big eyes and small face, but as his mother appeared refined and without a single naive feature on her face, Roxas was hopeful that he too would grow into his looks. Or at least taller. He was far too short for his liking.

"Your mother and I will be leaving town tomorrow for a business trip." Aeolus said it so suddenly, and without even peering in Roxas's direction that the blond had to take a moment to register what had been said.

"..Oh. What time tomorrow?"

"Early, before sunrise."

Roxas felt a strong desire to snort, but knew better than to actually do that. Of course his parents would announce their departure hours before they left. He liked the idea of throwing a tantrum over something like this, but that wasn't the kind of person his parents had raised him to be, and he was far too used to their absence to react with anything more than detached acceptance. In fact, he actually preferred it now.

"I see. When will you return?"

"A week, a week and a half at most."

Roxas nodded, mostly to himself. "I understand. I will be diligent while you're away". He said these same words almost every time his parents went away, and he meant it for the most part. After all, there was nothing else for him to be. Thinking this was the end of the conversation, he returned to his soup.

"Yes, diligent. Try to keep those distractions of yours at bay, will you?" The phrase itself could have been interpreted as a joke, but the tone in which his mother spoke held no humour.

Roxas felt the familiar clench of his teeth upon his cheeks. The butternut squash soup seemed thicker than usual.

* * *

Sure enough, Roxas's parents were gone by the time he woke up. Even though he spent little time with them while they were in town, the blond felt much more at ease knowing he wouldn't be reprimanded for something absurd, like breathing the wrong way, which had actually happened before, believe it or not. The two typically went on business trips overseas at least once every other month, but this time they had stayed in Twilight Town for over two and a half months, which was beginning to feel like a jail sentence to Roxas. Their present absence was refreshing to say the least. After getting dressed and eating breakfast, Roxas went to school as usual where he was a senior, and met up with his best friends who also happened to be his neighbours.

Riku Eansworth lived next door to Roxas, in an equally mammoth sized house. While Roxas's family owned the rail line and public transportation in the city, Riku's family owned the largest contracting business. This naturally meant the two family's areas of work often overlapped with one another. For example, Central Station, the metropolitan gateway into and out of the city, was built by the Eansworth family, and housed all of Reis Railway trains. At the end of the day, it meant good business for the two families to get along, which is why Roxas's parents never objected to his friendship with Riku, and vice versa.

Kairi Ambrose was a different story, however. Kairi had been adopted at a young age by the owners of the top newspaper company in the city, Twilight Tribune. Roxas and Riku both found her fascinating, because one, they were mystified by the concept of giving one's child to another adult, and two, she was the only girl their age who lived on their street. As it turns out, they were right to be curious, since Kairi, unlike most of the girls from their side of town, didn't breathe posh. She had a lot of spunk as a kid, and because her parents weren't the time-honoured rich snobs that fed their children disapproval and embellished lies, Kairi kept a lot of that spunk and good nature as she grew up. As one would guess, Roxas's parents were not thrilled by the prospect of their son's friendship with the spirited young girl, but they were painfully aware that the Ambrose family had a lot of leverage over companies like theirs, being the press and all. So much to their dismay, they had no choice but to allow the quirky-cute redhead remain in Roxas's life.

In terms of their personalities, there was no rational reason why Roxas, Riku, and Kairi would get along. But they did. Kairi was confident, sweet, and spoke her mind no matter the whispers and appalled looks she'd likely received when she did. Riku, who had a cooler disposition and a refined air about him without having to try at all, nearly had the entire student body fawning over him. It was something about the way he pulled off long silver hair; he was almost always the inspiration for new trends around school. And Roxas… well, he was Roxas. He was the baby faced blond who excelled in school and most everything he tried. But he resented many aspects of his lifestyle.

Roxas greeted the two at the steps of the school, in front of the colossal, yet delicately embossed words "Cypress Academy". The institution was private, of course, and destined for the most privileged individuals in the city. It was likely that the man who found the school named it after the many thickets and greenery surrounding the area, particularly cypress trees, which, ironically, were commonly known for enduring harsh climates and poor growing conditions. He had built the school decades before it became the top ranking choice for socialite, intending for it to remain a public school where children of all kind could convene and pursue knowledge. His later descendants thought differently however, and turning it into a business, they revamped the entire school and started accepting only those who could afford the "highest caliber of knowledge". The school presently had no resemblance to the original building with all the renovation and expansion that was constantly ongoing. Riku's family practically raised it from the ground up; it was their own little concentrated gold mine.

But unlike most individuals who regarded the word cypress as a long withstanding force, Roxas preferred reading into different interpretations. He liked the idea that cypress trees were related to death and mourning, an image he connected quite strongly to the school. His dislike wasn't directed at the advanced curriculum or the emphasis on all things in excess. He was actually fairly thankful for the abundance of resources in the school, particularly the literary texts amassed over the years; he spent more time than he was willing to admit running his fingers along book spines in the library, as hardly anyone ever went into the sections he found interest in. What he hated were the people who attended the school. They were shallow, took pleasure in being wasteful, and most importantly, they were unforgiving. Anyone within a clique was welcomed under the following condition: The prestige of their family name. If in any way this status was tarnished, or their wealth declined, they were immediately rejected from the group and became social outcasts. This ruthless way of thinking suffocated the blond. Whenever he entered the school he felt like there was a noose wound tightly around his neck.

"Morning!" Kairi's beaming smile seemed more contagious than usual.

Roxas smiled back with ease. "Morning. Ready for the history test today?"

"Oh my god, don't remind me, pleeease." Kairi puffed out her cheeks slightly and furrowed her brows, which only made Roxas's smile widen as he watched.

Riku, who's attention was on his phone until now, raised an eyebrow as he peered at Roxas's unusually upbeat expression. "You seem oddly chipper today… New antidepressants?" The last part he meant as a joke, but truthfully he suspected over two thirds of the students in their school could likely benefit from psychiatric help.

"Better, the Phantom Duo left town this morning." The Phanton Duo was Roxas's nickname for his parents, which he had coined because their presence in his life was so fleeting and inconsistent that he sometimes liked to imagine they were illusive beings he had conjured with his mind.

Kairi's eyes immediately lit up, and her hands balled up in front of her face. "Yes!" Her reply was so abrupt and unlike her that Roxas blinked twice, first baffled, and then further confused when he noticed Riku was gritting his teeth with a look of defeat.

" - What's going on?"

Riku groaned. "Kairi and I were betting on how long your parents would stay in town. For some idiotic reason I thought they'd make it a full three months…"

"Buuut they didn't, so I win. Pay up Eansworth." Roxas watched, mouth slightly agape, as Riku removed the watch from his wrist and reluctantly dropped it in Kairi's anticipating hands. Money was never worth betting over around these parts, simply because everyone already had more than enough. So instead, people would typically stake their belongings or whatever else was worthwhile to them. The watch Riku was giving up had been a very limited edition model; he was likely one of the only few people in town who had managed to get their hands on it, if not the only one. But that point was moot, as it belonged to Kairi now.

Kairi grinned in victory and commenced to slip the shining object onto her forearm, next to the watch she already had on. It had been custom made to wrap snuggly around Riku's wrists, so needless to say it was too large for Kairi's dainty limbs, but she didn't care. It was a badge of victory she would proudly wave around just to piss off Riku. She was also bound to get some spiteful looks from Riku's groupies today, so that would be fun.

" _What the hell_? Are you two actually making bets at my expense?" Neither Kairi nor Riku seemed perturbed or apologetic in the face of Roxas's exasperation. They both shared a look and nodded. "You do realize how fucked up that is, right?"

"I think your incessant crying as a child and socially impaired behaviour suggested as much," Riku replied calmly. Roxas waited for Riku to continue, perhaps lead into an apology, but there was nothing.

Kairi placed her hand, the one that was adorning her newly won prize, on Roxas's shoulder in a comforting manner. "Look Roxas, we love you… But you just make it so easy. To tease, I mean. You've got to admit, this is at least a little funny, isn't it?"

It was, to a degree, but it also annoyed Roxas knowing he was the butt of their jokes. Even though they were his closest friends, he often felt like Riku and Kairi had made a secret pact to tease Roxas whenever the opportunity arose. It went as far back as he could remember. A small part of him suspected they did it to lighten the severity of his off-putting childhood, but he was, no doubt, too sensitive and stubborn to laugh along with them.

"…You two are seriously disturbed, you know that?" With a scowl, he pushed past the pair and made his way through the polished doors of the school, ignoring their quiet snickering.

"Welcome to suburban hell, Roxas!" Riku's exclamation followed him into the building, where he was in fact, in a hell of sorts.

* * *

The rest of the day passed by in a fairly normal fashion. Roxas's history test went well, Tidus – his only friend in P.E. – told Roxas about his typical weekend exploits in great detail (this time he managed to steal one of his dad's yachts for a boat party), and by the time lunch rolled around, Kairi already had, much to Riku's dismay, plenty of stories to tell, starring her new beloved accessory. She even exclaimed, at one point, "I think the blonde haired girl _actually_ wanted me dead," to which Riku muttered sullenly to the passion tea lemonade he had raised to his lips, "She's not the only one."

Roxas returned home an hour later than he usually did, seeing as how his parents weren't around to object. He ate dinner alone precisely at six, showered, and then retired to his bedroom where he spent the rest of the night finishing his homework. It was still pretty early by the time he was done, so he decided he'd crack open his notebook and record some new words.

Roxas's mind was always focused and utterly intrigued when he started writing, so much so that he didn't bother to check the time at all. It was only when he finished writing the definition for the word "dereliction", the act of abandoning something, that he realized the muscles in his fingers were starting to cramp up and sleep was calling to him. Exhausted, Roxas put down his pen, turned off his desk lamp, and rolled onto his bed without bothering to put anything away. He'd worry about it in the morning.

Though he fell asleep almost instantly, Roxas was also a very light sleeper; even the tiniest of sounds could wake him. This was unfortunate because it meant he had to prepare in advance to avoid any sort of disturbance. His door and windows had to be close to keep any noise from entering, and his phone couldn't even be on vibrate, as the rumbling was enough to disturb him.

It didn't dawn on him until later that night that he'd made the mistake of sleeping too soon, when the familiar chime of his phone rang out, indicating he'd received a text.

Awake and disgruntled, Roxas turned his head to the right, where his phone laid obnoxiously on his nightstand, the light glaring from its screen. The digital clock next to the loathsome device read 3:16 a.m., which only proved to fuel his irritation. Who was texting him at this time? Probably Kairi. Squinting, he leaned over and reached out to grab his phone so he could turn it on silent, making a mental note to scold his friend tomorrow when he saw her, who had probably sent him another live stream of cats napping. She would always insist it was cute.

His hand had only just wrapped around the cellular device when he saw it. Movement. Roxas froze, his hand remaining on the nightstand as his eyes shot frantically around the expanse in front of his bed. His vision was still slightly clouded from being asleep, but he was almost certain he'd seen something. Roxas didn't own any pets (his parents weren't very fond of the idea of animals running rampant in their house), so seeing dark figures moving around in his room in the middle of the night was enough cause for alarm.

He looked some more but saw nothing, and was almost ready to cast away his concerns as a hallucination brought on by his sleep induced state, when he heard it – the quiet creak of his window being opened. His eyes flashed over and he could see... Something? … Someone?

The dull moonlight pouring in through the windows aimed down diagonally across the intruder's face. Roxas couldn't make out all their features, but he didn't have to, the features he could see already stood out more than enough in their own unique way. Their eyes were large, and appeared almost cat-like. And there was some kind of mark on their cheeks. His eyes locked on to the other's, and for a moment they simply stared at each other in silence. Roxas could hardly process what was going on in his dazed state, but when he finally opened his mouth with the intention to say something – _anything,_ the intruder's lips curled up, and they… Winked? Then without warning, the intruder slid quickly and soundlessly out of the window, leaving Roxas and the bewildered collision that had occurred in his mind, alone.

It took him more than a few seconds, but Roxas finally collected his scattered thoughts and shot out of bed, dashing to his window with haste. When he looked out, however, there was no one, just an empty trail and the tall brick gate that surrounded it. His eyes remained vigilant, hoping he'd catch something if he stared long enough. It wasn't until the phone in his hand chimed again that he pulled his eyes away from the window and down to his device.

He sighed. It really was Kairi.


	2. End of Line

"Okay, so what you're saying is someone broke into your house, stole your pen… and then climbed out of your window?" The salmon roll Riku held between his chopsticks had been there for a while now; pieces of cucumber were beginning to slip out and drop onto his plate.

It sounded more absurd when Roxas heard it out loud. He nodded slowly. "Yeah, well, it's possible they took more, but that's the only thing missing from my room."

After the intruder left last night (and his mind settled from its frenzied state), Roxas inspected his room to see if anything had been stolen. Initially, nothing appeared missing or out of place, so he paced around frantically, trying to play out every possible premise in his head while debating whether or not to call his parents—until he eventually passed out from fatigue. When he woke up later that morning, he decided to brush off the strange encounter as an odd, but very plausible dream. It worked at first, even the rest of his house appeared unaffected in its lavish glory… But when he returned to his bedroom to pack his homework into his bag, he realized something wasn't quite right. The notebook he was certain he'd left open on his desk before he went to bed was closed; peering back at him from its smooth, black, moleskine cover… And his pen was nowhere to be found.

Riku was still having a hard time believing this. He watched Roxas's expression carefully to discern whether or not this was some elaborate joke with a drawn out punch-line. Roxas was never that great at telling jokes. "…And you saw this person? Guy or girl?"

To be frank, Roxas wasn't sure. His gut was leaning more towards male, but there was only so much he'd seen. "I couldn't tell… I could only see part of their face." He decided to leave out the part about the winking. The situation was already weird enough without it.

Kairi's face was consumed with concern. She had also abandoned her lunch, and instead reached out to squeeze Roxas's arm. "I'm just glad you're okay… that must have been terrifying to wake up to."

Roxas didn't know if terrifying was the right word to describe it. He pushed his mostly uneaten carbonara pasta idly around with his fork. "I'm fine, I just didn't expect it is all."

"But of all things to take, why your pen?" Kairi frowned as she asked this; Roxas didn't care for much, but she knew he had a strong attachment to this particular item.

The fountain pen itself was silver with gold trim. Though the body of the pen had an understated elegance, the nib had an intricate swirling design engraved in the silver, and underneath it was Roxas's last name, "Reis" marked in cursive. The pen meant a lot to Roxas because it previously belonged to his grandfather, who in his passing, gave it to Roxas as a memento. Part of the reason Roxas grew to like writing so much was because of this pen. He had always been fond of his grandfather, who was the only family member he could recall ever treating him with anything more than silent disapproval, so he treasured the pen and used it for all of his personal writing. The thought of it being in someone else's hands was enough to make him lose his appetite.

The blond shrugged, feeling more dejected every time he acknowledged his pen was gone. Why couldn't they have been a normal burglar and stolen his collection of cufflinks…

Riku pursed his lips. "I've seen it before, it's subtle, but I'm guessing it's worth a decent price. Especially if it was custom made." He put down his chopsticks as another thought crossed his mind. "I wonder why they chose your house… to steal from, I mean. This is the first time I've heard about a burglary in our neighbourhood."

"—Actually…" Kairi seemed to be thinking carefully about something. The two boys waited for her to continue. "If I remember correctly, my parent's told me about some burglaries a few weeks ago. I think there were two cases reported… it wasn't in this area, but it was pretty close by." Being the daughter of two journalists, Kairi was always informed about the news, sometimes even before it was released to the public.

Roxas's eyes widened. _Could there be a connection?_ "Did they catch the burglar?"

Kairi shook her head. "No… They think it could be a band of thieves who target vacant houses. In both cases, the victims only found out about it after returning home."

"But Roxas was in his house at the time. It wasn't empty." As Riku said these words, the possibility dawned on Roxas that there was still a connection to the previous burglaries.

"My parents… they probably thought the house was vacant because my parents were gone."

Kairi mouthed a silent _"Oh"_ in response. "You're right… no offense Roxas, but you don't exactly try hard to make much of an impression. They could have easily overlooked you and assumed it was just your parents living there."

As he considered this, the bleak acceptance of thinking he'd never see his pen again shifted into something else _. Anger_. Roxas was angry. The thief was sneaking around the neighbourhood, waiting for people to leave their homes, and then taking whatever they wanted at will. Not only that, but when Roxas had caught them, they smiled at him! Replaying the smug reaction in his head, Roxas clenched his teeth tightly together, wishing he hadn't stared like an idiot and allowed them to get away so easily. But then it occurred to him… There was one crucial detail Roxas knew, that the other victims did not.

He had seen the burglar. He had looked them right in the eyes.

Roxas unclenched his teeth, feeling a sense of resolve over what he said next. "I'm getting my pen back."

Riku and Kairi were still discussing the details of the burglaries, but they paused and simultaneously looked at Roxas, wondering if they had heard him right.

"You're doing _what_?" Riku's eyebrows shot up in disbelief. This was pushing it, even for Roxas.

"I'm going to track down the thief and get my pen back." Roxas's voice didn't falter. Without even intending to, he'd made up his mind.

Kairi was equally baffled. "Shouldn't you leave that stuff to the police?"

Roxas shook his head. He'd already considered calling them this morning, but there was no way to alert the police without his parents finding out as well. And the last thing he wanted was for his parents to come home early over a missing pen, and maybe a few necklaces and plates. Besides, he wouldn't even know what to tell the police. _"Some person with cat eyes came into my room, stole my pen, smiled and winked at me, and then left,"_ didn't exactly sound right.

He stabbed into his pasta. "No, if I do that, they'll contact my parents, and that'll just turn into a huge mess. I need to do this on my own."

Riku still wasn't convinced. "How exactly are you planning to find them? You don't even know what gender to look for."

"I saw their eyes pretty clearly, and they've also got two small marks under them—tattoos, I think. I won't have any trouble identifying them."

"Roxas, that's too reckless. This person is dangerous, you could get hurt!" Kairi was distraught. She heard countless stories from her parents about citizens getting involved with the wrong people in this town. And those stories never ended well. She wasn't willing to let her best friend put himself in danger over a pen. "Besides," she continued, "if you're looking for someone of… that profession, chances are they live past Station Heights, in the market area. You have no idea how to navigate that district."

Roxas hesitated, Kairi was right about that much. He couldn't recall ever stepping foot into Market Street. It was the largest and most populated area of the town. Though a prominent urban expanse, people of Roxas's kind hardly ever had a reason to go down there. The blond lived in the upper part of town called The Cusp, which was, quite literally, the cusp of twilight town. It was the wealthiest district in the town, and also the most unwelcoming.

"If you're thinking of going down there… I might be able to help you." Riku said suddenly.

Kairi shot an incredulous look at Riku. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Why would you encourage him, Riku? This isn't a game."

"I know that, but Roxas is going to do this with or without our approval, aren't you Roxas?" The blond nodded. "We might as well help him so he doesn't get himself killed," Riku explained calmly.

Kairi couldn't argue with that logic, but she still wasn't happy with how things were unfolding. Minutes ago they were just having lunch together, and now suddenly they were plotting how to track down a criminal. She pursed her lips and kept quiet.

Riku turned his attention back to Roxas. "So?"

"You've been down there before?" He inquired, unable to recall Riku ever mentioning he'd spent time in the market.

"Not personally no, but I know someone who lives there."

Kairi and Roxas shared a curious look. They knew most everyone that Riku knew, and neither one of them had connections with people outside of The Cusp.

"He's… A friend." Riku said this tentatively, as if unsure whether or not to use that title.

"Wait— what?! _Who_?" As much as she wanted to, Kairi couldn't keep her mouth shut, not for something like this.

Despite his popularity, Riku didn't label many people as his friends. He kept his social circle as small as possible because he found it strenuous and a waste of time to keep up with large groups of people, particularly ones from this side of town. The plethora of admirers he had at school weren't exactly great candidates for friends either, since over half of them wanted more than a platonic relationship. So when Riku called someone his friend, he really meant it.

"It doesn't matter," he said quickly, trying his best to stray away from the topic. "The point is, he might be willing to help you navigate the area if I ask him."

Roxas agreed immediately and with fervour, feeling a newfound sense of resolve over this undertaking.

"Alright, I'll get a hold of him and let you know as soon as possible."

* * *

When the last bell of the day rung, Roxas was more relieved than usual to go home. He had a lot on his mind, and he still couldn't get over last night's encounter. Every time he thought back to their stupid smile and wink, his mood would turn sour.

Gathering his things from his locker, Roxas headed towards the front of the school, where his driver was waiting to take him home. Though he walked quickly down the halls, he paid little attention to his surroundings. With his eyes fixated on the floor and his mind distracted by a number of thoughts, Roxas rounded the corner. Almost immediately, his view of the marble floor was interrupted by a pair of black oxford shoes with gold tips—the collision was inevitable.

Reeling, Roxas stumbled back.

"Watch where you're going, _dumbass_!"

With all that had happened, Roxas didn't think his day could get any worse… But he was clearly mistaken. Seifer Almasy stood in front of him. His arms were crossed in their usual hostile manner, and his lackeys, Fuu and Rai were by his side.

Seifer's family were the owners of the school, which more or less meant Seifer did whatever the hell he wanted, whenever the hell he wanted. He had undisputable control over the student body; not even teachers would challenge him, so he roamed around like a fascist leader, tormenting students for pleasure with his two underlings. In Roxas's eyes, Seifer epitomized everything he hated about this side of town. The two had spent most of their childhood rivaled in competition, but Roxas took to avoiding the other as much as he could once they started high school. He didn't want any unnecessary conflict added to his already miserable school life. Still, Seifer always found a way to wedge himself into Roxas's world, and took great satisfaction knowing he exasperated the blond.

Ignoring his comment, Roxas rubbed at his nose and attempted to move past the group. With no delay, Rai followed swiftly to the left and blocked Roxas's path.

"What, no apology, Reis?" Seifer sneered in his direction. He was clearly enjoying the chance encounter.

"Insolent," Fuu commented with her typical one word remarks.

"Get out of my way," Roxas said plainly. He was never in the mood for Seifer's deranged antics, but today in particular, he had less patience than usual.

"Out of _your_ way? If I'm remembering correctly, you crashed into me… So why don't you get down on your knees like a dog, and beg for forgiveness?"

Roxas raised his eyes to meet Seifer's, trying his best to maintain an air of indifference. He didn't want Seifer to see the growing anger he felt, it only ever proved to fuel his adversary. Having known him all his life, Roxas learned a number of things about Seifer growing up, first and foremost that he thrived off other's suffering.

Without warning, Roxas dashed towards an opening between Seifer and Rai, hoping to catch them off guard and slip through. Rai was too quick for Roxas, however, and managed to grab onto the back collar of his uniform. Yanking him back, Fuu and Rai each grabbed one of his arms, and with their other hand clasped on his shoulders, they slammed him against the lockers.

A sharp ache surged down his back as he hit the metal. The blond gritted his teeth and let out a small groan.

Even with the explosive noise, the students who were loitering around the hall up until now made no attempt to help Roxas, instead they began filing out of the building, refusing to acknowledge the violent exchange.

Seifer walked at a leisurely pace towards his opposite, cracking his knuckles all the while to indicate what would come next. He leaned in uncomfortably close to Roxas's face with a menacing smile. "Still no apology?" Roxas remained silent. "No worries, you'll be sorry soon."

Roxas struggled against his restraint, but with both Fuu and Rai's weight holding him in place, he wasn't going anywhere. Unwilling to swallow his pride and give in to Seifer, he clenched his eyes close and prepared for the incoming blow.

" —Hey! Don't touch him asshole!"

Recognizing the sound of that voice, Roxas opened his eyes and felt overwhelming relief at the sight of Tidus and Wakka running in his direction. Seifer's fist was raised, but his threatening demeanor quickly diminished when he realized the protest was directed at him. Roxas's friends were coming to his defense. Though he never hesitated to prey on Roxas when he was alone, when he had backup — particularly when they were two star athletes — Seifer suspected things would not go in his favour. He made a small motion with his head, signalling to Fuu and Rai to stop what they were doing. They both let go of Roxas at once.

"Another time then, Reis." Seifer flashed a smile at Roxas as if parting with a good friend. But just as quickly, his lips pulled back down into their usual look of disdain. The trio pushed past Roxas and continued on, likely looking for another student to torture.

After thanking the two profusely and promising to make it up to them at a later time, Roxas returned home with a sore back and a weary mind. He had reached the conclusion that the universe was punishing him today; only an act of god could explain the degree of misfortune he'd been experiencing.

Not wanting to risk any more unusual occurrences, Roxas locked himself in his room and studied until his mind was numbed by mathematical equations and philosophic theories. When he was unable to continue, he decided he'd take another shot at searching for his pen, in the infinitesimal chance that it was still in his room. He inspected everything calmly and carefully this time, making sure not to miss any small crevices. He even went so far as to check the pockets of his pants, with no luck. Although, he did find a ring he'd been missing for a while now.

Dropping back into his chair, Roxas stared aimlessly at his desk. He had no desire to write (for obvious reasons), but it was still fairly early in the evening, so he wouldn't be able to fall asleep even if he tried. Thinking back to the conversation during lunch, Roxas opened his laptop and typed "Twilight Town Market Street", into the search engine. He clicked on the images tab first and scrolled through, taking in the different sights of the district.

Roxas's eyes eventually fixated on a photo of a train, where he saw the name _"Reis Railway"_ printed across the body of the train in large letters. It was always a strange sensation to see his last name advertised like that. When he was young, his grandfather had taken him to Central Station to look at their trains. This was the first time Roxas had seen something so large that could move, and he was mesmerized. But being a child, he was also afraid, so he refused to step onto the locomotive. After that time, his parents never bothered to take him there when he asked, and then when he was old enough to go on his own, he had no logical reason to since he had a personal driver. It was a little bizarre knowing he'd never been on a train before, despite it being the basis of his wealth.

Shaking away his thoughts, Roxas scrolled back to the top of the screen and clicked on the maps tab. His eyes widened when he saw all the overlapping lines. The streets branched off into smaller streets, and some of those branched off into even smaller roads. As he tried to make sense of the daunting image, he was interrupted by an incoming text. Picking up his phone, he glanced at the sender. Riku.

 _[ Tomorrow 4pm._

 _Meet at my place. ]_

Roxas bit his bottom lip as he read this, already knowing what it meant. For the first time since suggesting it, he felt nervous. This was, after all, outside of The Cusp. And in terms of things his parents would not approve of… To put it simply, he'd never stepped so far out of line as he was about to with this plan. But he knew none of that mattered. He was going to find the cat-eyed burglar no matter what.

* * *

Roxas walked over to Riku's house at 3:55 p.m. the next day, after dropping off his things at home and changing out of his uniform.

It was April in Twilight Town, which meant the weather was beginning to warm up, but it still got pretty chilly in the evening. To combat this, Roxas wore a black varsity jacket with white sleeves. Underneath he had on a light gray chambray shirt, and he paired the ensemble with formfitting dark blue jeans.

Before he left his house, he mentioned to his housekeeper he would likely return home after six, and asked him to leave his dinner in the fridge.

Kairi greeted Roxas at the door with her usual sweet smile. She had on an oversized beige knit cardigan that reached halfway down her thigh. The white top underneath was tucked into a high-waisted black-and-white plaid skirt, and to keep her warm she had a light pink circle scarf wrapped around her neck.

Although Roxas insisted that she didn't need to come along, she wouldn't take no for an answer. If he was going to do something so "impulsive and idiotic", as she quoted, she had to be there to keep an eye on him. Uttering things like that was the reason Riku and Roxas often described Kairi as an overbearing mother. Her response was always to smack them on the head.

"Where's Riku?"

"He's still getting changed…" She was looking at Roxas as if scrutinizing his outfit. "…Did you bring a weapon?"

 _Oh right_. The thought hadn't crossed his mind for some reason, but now that she said it, it seemed like a logical thing to have on him. He shook his head, wondering if he owned any weapons at home he could carry around inconspicuously.

Half expecting that answer, Kairi rolled her eyes and opened her cross-body bag. She fished around for a few seconds and pulled out a small, black, cylinder shaped object. "Here."

Roxas turned it around in his hand and examined the label of the bottle. "Oleoresin Capsicum… what is this?"

"Pepper spray," Kairi replied.

Startled, Roxas looked up at the redhead. "Uh… is this stuff even legal?"

"Technically no, but this bottle has a low concentration of O.C in it, so it should be fine."

Roxas wanted to ask her how she managed to get her hands on this, but the sound of the doorbell cut their conversation short. Shoving the pepper spray into his pocket, he followed Kairi to the door.

Both Kairi and Roxas were expecting Riku's friend to be… Well, someone like Riku. A tall, calm, and collected individual with nice hair. When they opened the door and saw a shorter, wide-eyed teenager with brown spikes for hair, they weren't sure how to react.

At the sight of the two, the newcomer's face broke into a smile that spread from cheek to cheek. "Hi! You must be Roxas and Kairi. I'm Sora!"

Kairi recovered from the initial shock and smiled back. "Oh, of course! Nice to meet you, Sora." She opened the door wider and gestured with her hand. "Please, come in."

The moment Sora walked past the two, Kairi turned to Roxas and silently mouthed the words _"Oh my god",_ to which Roxas nodded vigorously.

"Riku's told me a lot about you two—" he began, but paused when he took in the sight of Riku's foyer. "Wow… This place is huge!"

Riku chose this moment to appear from the second floor, adjusting the sleeve of the white shirt under his brown leather jacket as he reached the stairs. When he looked down and saw all three of his friends gathered together, his expression froze. He looked first at Sora, who was admiring the chandelier, and then at Kairi, who was grinning at Riku with a devious glint in her eyes.

"Sora, hey." Riku was halfway down the stairs now, and ignoring Kairi's exaggerated expressions. "I didn't think you'd get here so fast."

"It wasn't that busy so I ended my shift a little early. Your house is way bigger than you described, by the way." As he spoke, Sora noticed that Riku seemed preoccupied by something, he kept peering up and down the brunet. "What's wrong, is there something on me?" Sora looked down at his clothes as if trying to spot what was awry.

Riku smiled faintly and shook his head as he reached the bottom of the staircase. "No it's just… You're wearing normal clothes. I've only ever seen you in your work clothes."

"Hey, you're right," a grin formed in place of his confusion. He pulled at the hem of his dark-red bomber jacket. "How do I look?"

"Good. Your style suits you."

Strange muffled sounds were coming out of Kairi, even as she held her lips sealed tightly together. Roxas had to nudge her with his elbow so she'd stop.

The four soon made their way out of Riku's house and into his car, where his driver was waiting patiently. Sora suggested it was best to drop them off in the center of Market Street, nearby Tram Common, in order to avoid traffic.

Once they were all settled in and the car pulled out of the driveway, Kairi excitedly asked Sora how the two had met, knowing that Riku would never divulge her. Sora explained that he worked as a barista at a café on this side of town because he made a lot more money in tips. Riku happened upon the café two months ago and ordered a latte macchiato from him. The next day, he returned to ask Sora how he prepared it, and the day after he came back again, insisting he couldn't replicate the drink no matter how many times he tried. After that, Riku frequented the café quite often to order his favourite drink, and a friendship had naturally developed.

Kairi, who was utterly charmed by Sora's personality, insisted that the four of them had to start hanging out together, especially because she had never seen Riku smile so much in one sitting.

When the car reached its final stop, Roxas exited the vehicle slowly; his body was tense in anticipation.

The streets before him were filled with faces; adults heading home from their jobs, kids running ahead into crowds despite their parent's objections, teenagers who were hanging out with their friends after school… Though The Cusp was plenty big, it was never this populated and lively. Stores and restaurants lined the streets, one after the other. Roxas could see a couple sharing a meal on a patio, and laughing so hard that one of them appeared to choke on their drink. Everything looked so easy here, no one had to pay attention to the way they walked, or talked, or ate. Even the air felt different.

Kairi looked equally amazed as she took in her surroundings. "This is unbelievable… I've been downtown a few times, but never this far in… Who knew it got so busy!"

After the initial shock had passed, Riku placed a hand lightly on Roxas's shoulder to get his attention. "Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked.

Roxas nodded. He wasn't turning back now.

Sora guided them down the street, explaining that their best chance at finding the kind of person they were looking for was further south. As they walked, Roxas tried his best to inspect the face of anyone who he thought could potentially be the thief. The last thing he wanted was to miss them because he wasn't being observant enough. They soon arrived at Tram Common, a large open-market that circled around; with multiple paths that split off into separate areas. It was packed full of people, some buying fresh produce from vendors, others examining handcrafted goods that were laid out on tables or blankets. Just seconds after they entered, Kairi felt her eyes gravitate to a cute, navy-blue drop-waist dress displayed on a mannequin. Biting her lip, she forced herself to look away… She'd have to come back another day for it.

The four walked around slowly, taking care to examine each passing face. After scouring the area for what seemed like forever, they trekked down another street, and then another. They tried asking shop owners, but with little to go off of, they didn't uncover many clues aside from, _"Maybe, I'm not sure",_ and " _Can you describe them in more detail?"_

Eventually, however, they came across an older lady tending to the plants in her shop, who perked up at the words "face tattoo".

"Small tattoo's under their eyes? Yes, I see him around all the time! He's a strange looking one… He dawdles around the market a lot with his friends, near the entrance," the elder said.

So it was a "him", after all… Hearing someone else recognize the thief reassured the blond, at least now he knew for certain he wasn't going crazy the previous night.

"Can you tell me anything else about him? Any other features?" Roxas asked urgently.

"Well… he has long red hair… And he's tall, very tall!"

The group thanked the woman and rushed back to the entrance of Tram Common. They looked around for another thirty minutes or so, trying to narrow down their search to the description the shop-owner had given them. But no matter how much they searched, there were simply no tall men with long red hair loitering around.

The sun was just beginning to descend — the pale blue sky was dissolving into an amalgamation of oranges and pinks — when Roxas heard the distant bells from the clock tower, signalling another hour had passed. The short hand on his watch was pointing to the small black _VII_. By now he was usually taking a long, hot shower.

Feeling discouraged, Roxas quietly sighed and took one last look around. He was tired, and his friends looked equally drained. He decided he'd come back tomorrow and try again.

Before he could turn to tell his friends, he felt someone brush past his arm as they walked by, laughing obnoxiously loud. Irritated, Roxas looked up and saw someone who's hair was a strange combination of a mohawk — with the sides of his head shaved — and a mullet. _Weird._ Feeling unsettled by the sight, he glanced over to his companion. He could only see the back of their head, but they had an equally uncommon hairstyle. He'd never seen anyone with red hair this bright before, and it stuck out all over the place like a pointy weapon. It almost made Sora's hair look tame.

The absurdity of their hairstyle distracted him, and his thoughts wandered momentarily until the significance of that feature struck him. _Long red hair._

When the redhead turned to speak to his friend, Roxas could see the familiar shape of his eye, and though it was quick—the glimpse of something under it.

Riku, Sora, and Kairi were talking amongst one another when Roxas suddenly raced into the crowd.

" —Whoa, Roxas! Where are you going?!" Kairi cried out to the blond.

Roxas pushed through the multitude of bodies, trying his best to keep up and not lose sight of the red hair. The open-market was nowhere as congested as it was when he first arrived, but it was still teeming with lively faces, making it difficult to navigate through.

He followed the male all the way to the other side of the circular street, by now he was only a few paces behind the other. Squeezing through a group of teenage girls, he reached out and tried to grasp at the redhead. Though he couldn't latch onto their arm, he managed to grab the sleeve of their olive-green military jacket.

Feeling a tug, the stranger looked behind him, and then stopped to turn around completely. His friend with the mullet-hawk didn't seem to notice the redhead was no longer following him, and continued on.

When he stared down at the breathless blond, with his striking green eyes and pointed tattoos, Roxas knew without a doubt he had the right person

He raised an eyebrow at Roxas. "Can I help you?"

Roxas, whose face was now a mixture of exhaustion and anger, breathed out deeply before he spoke. "You took something from me, and I want it back."

The stranger didn't appear to understand what he was referring to. He blinked. "Come again?"

"You…" Roxas gritted his teeth. He was so overcome by outrage he couldn't bother to be nervous about approaching a criminal. "You were in my house two nights ago, you stole from me!"

The redhead, who now seemed somewhat amused by Roxas's exasperation, shook his head. "Sorry to disappoint, kid, but I think you've got the wrong person."

Roxas wasn't going to be so easily deceived. Furrowing his brows together, he kept his eyes locked their green ones. "No, you're lying… I saw you—you were in my room!"

"Look," he scratched the back of his head with a disinterested look as he continued, "I've got better things to do with my time than watch you throw a tantrum. Go take it up someone who cares. Now if you'll excuse me…" His gaze pulled away from Roxas as he turned away to leave.

No. _It couldn't end like this_. Roxas hadn't come this far to be brushed off so easily. Watching the redhead walk away, he did the only thing he could think of doing.

" _Thief!_ " He exclaimed loudly enough so the people around him could hear. He pointed at the tall male frantically. "Thief! He's a thief!"

The redhead froze, his back still turned to Roxas. The crowd around them was beginning to stare at the confrontation, wondering what was going on. Roxas kept his finger aimed at his back, waiting for the stranger to make his next move. After a lengthy pause, the redhead turned back around and looked at Roxas with his lips pulled together in a straight line. He rubbed between his eyebrows with two fingers and sighed out deeply.

"Okay, alright, cool it." He walked back towards Roxas and pushed down the hand that was pointing at him. "You win."

Astonished that it actually worked, Roxas stood silently, he wasn't sure what to say next.

The companion who was previously walking with the redhead reappeared at this moment, after tracing back his steps when he realized his friend was missing. "Axel! Keep up, man…" He glanced over at Roxas, eyebrows raising in curiosity. "Who's this?"

"Just someone," Axel replied, not giving it much thought. "You go first, Dem. I'll meet up with you after I'm done here."

The male looked at Roxas again, and then back at Axel. With a shrug, he agreed and sauntered off.

"And you," he said as he turned back to Roxas, "come with me."

Roxas trailed after the redhead in silence. _So his name's Axel,_ he thought, _fitting name for a crook._ He knew there was no actual truth to that thought, but he was too spiteful to care. Though he was still cautious of the male, and where he was taking him, Axel was surprisingly less hostile than he thought he'd be — for a thief that is — which made Roxas all the more brazen with contempt.

They walked out of the crowd and into another street that was substantially less populated. Axel continued to lead Roxas towards a brick archway; it looked like the entrance to a back alley… Where was he taking him?

Roxas stopped, and his hand reflexively reached down to his pocket to check if the pepper spray was still there. "I'm not going in there," he said bluntly. Though he was brash, he had more common sense than to follow a stranger into an empty alleyway.

Clicking his tongue, Axel stopped as well, and turned to face the blond. He leaned against the brick wall of the archway with his arms crossed, and took a long look at the sullen teenager.

Roxas shifted uncomfortably in the silence, but kept the scowl on his face.

"…You know," Axel tilted his head to the side as if to peer at him from another angle. "You looked a lot friendlier in the dark."

Roxas's lips twitched at the remark. This was the first time Axel was blatantly admitting to having seen Roxas before. And he was making light of it, too…

"And you looked a lot more threatening."

Roxas's comeback was unexpected, and Axel's brows shot up before he suddenly let out a loud laugh. He realized then that he had thoroughly underestimated the teenager. He may have been another rich boy from The Cusp, but he was completely unlike any of the people Axel had met up there, who immediately backed away at the sign of danger.

"I don't know how you managed to find me, but you've got guts, I'll give you that." He smirked at Roxas. "Alright, tell me what you came for."

It was mostly luck that led him to the redhead, but Axel didn't need to know that. Roxas met Axel's gaze, his scowl finally beginning to fade. "My pen."

"Your _pen_?"

"Yes, my _pen_. It's silver with gold trim," Roxas seethed, feeling offended at the way Axel said the word "pen", like he didn't know whether or not to take the blond seriously.

Axel furrowed his brows and looked up, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth repeatedly as he tried to remember if he had taken a pen. It wasn't exactly a remarkable steal, especially compared to the other valuables he'd taken, but he did vaguely recall seizing the long silver object right before Roxas woke up.

"..Ah, you're right, I did take your pen." Roxas's eyes lit up. "Buuut then I pawned it. Like the morning after."

"—What?! Who has it now?" Eyes wide, he spoke desperately, thinking he could still buy it back if he hurried. "Where can I find it?"

"I sold it to Cid… who left for Traverse Town this morning. He usually takes the pawned goods and sells them to another buyer at a higher price."

Disappointment surged through the blond. Was Axel telling the truth? Roxas had a feeling he knew the answer to that, but he didn't want to believe it. "You're lying again! Tell me where you're keeping it!"

Axel raised his hands in surrender, frankly surprised at how far Roxas was pushing this pen thing. He got a pretty decent price when he pawned it, but it definitely wasn't worth running across town to retrieve. "Sorry, kid… I'd return it if I had it but—it's gone, really."

His hopes sinking quickly and sorrowfully to its grim end, Roxas was too crushed to respond. Slumping his shoulders, he turned and started walking back towards the entrance.

Seeing Roxas's crestfallen face made even Axel feel apologetic. But he also knew once Cid sold these items, they were almost impossible to get back. There was nothing either of them could do.

As Axel watched him sulk away, he felt the tiny bit of a conscience he had eating away at him. Though he was a burglar, he only stole things he didn't think would be missed. When he took Roxas's pen, he assumed it was just one of the many he owned. He didn't think he had some deep-rooted attachment to it. And while he had seen the entitled rich-kid-tantrum time and again, this was different. It was strangely agitating. Sucking in a breath, he knew he was going to regret what he did next.

"Hey, wait up!" Axel jogged after the blond.

A dejected Roxas stopped and looked in his direction. "What?"

"Here," he stretched out a hand, "give me your phone."

Roxas looked confused. He frowned at Axel. "What, so you can steal that too?"

Axel rolled his eyes. This kid had way too much spunk for someone his size. He was lucky Axel was the one who stole from him, and not the others. _Larxene would've strangled and dumped him in the trash by now…_

"I'm a burglar, not a robber." He gestured with his open hand. "Just, give."

Roxas was skeptical, but he pulled out his phone anyway. He thought he would drop it in Axel's hand, but instead, Axel reached over and slipped the phone out of Roxas's fingers. The gesture startled the blond, who was used to modest, polite behaviour. His parents would definitely be shaking their heads if they saw this. Then again, they'd be doing a lot more than just head shaking if they knew what Roxas was doing down here.

Clearing his throat, Roxas went back to glowering at Axel. "What difference does it make? Both take things that don't belong to them."

"Trust me," Axel replied, partially distracted as he tapped something into Roxas's phone. "I've been robbed before." When he finished, he shoved the phone back into Roxas's hand. "There's a difference."

Roxas looked down and saw that the name _Axel_ , along with a phone number was saved into his contacts. "What's this for?" He didn't exactly gather that this confrontation had spurred a friendship.

"It's a favour. If you ever need something that your reservoir of wealth can't buy, hit me up."

A favour? Roxas raised an eyebrow. "I don't need a favour."

"Not now, but you will. At some point, everyone needs a favour." His lips quirked as he looked at Roxas's perplexed face.

Roxas was distracted by another obvious thought. He looked at the redhead skeptically. "…Aren't you afraid I'll report this number to the police? You _are_ a criminal."

Axel didn't seem fazed. "If you were planning on reporting me to the cops, you would've done it already. Don't think I don't know how you people work," he tapped a finger against his temple with a knowing smirk. "Anyway, I'm outta here." Instead of dropping his hand back down to his side, he rested it on Roxas's left shoulder and swiftly brushed it twice, as if brushing off dirt. "Stay sharp."

Roxas was at a loss for words as he watched Axel stroll off. His eyes slowly peered back down at the ten digit number, wondering what kind of favour he would ever need from a person like Axel.

" —Oh yeah," Axel spun back around as something else crossed his mind. "You should probably check your texts," he said, walking backwards as he spoke. "Your friends are worried about you, _Roxas_."

His lips curled up, and Roxas recognized the look. It was the same way he looked at him the first time they met.


	3. Hungry for The Kill

To make up for the lack of Axel in the previous chapters, this chapter has like eighty percent Axel, fifteen percent dictionaries, and five percent Pence. Please, pray for Pence.

* * *

Three days passed after his so-called excursion downtown, and Roxas fell back into his old routines accordingly. He still felt a quiet ache every time he thought about his pen, but he had largely come to terms with his loss. There was no point dwelling on it, knowing now that it probably belonged to some other rich family in another rich part of town.

But something else was bothering Roxas. His encounter with Axel ended on a strange note, and now he had his number—a burglar's number. He had no intention of actually dialing that number, so logically, there was no reason for him to keep it. No matter, each time he told himself he was better off deleting the contact from his phone, he couldn't bring himself to do it. A small part of him wondered, quite earnestly, what Axel meant when he offered Roxas _"a favour"._ What could someone of his capacity do for Roxas? And why would a thief bother to help him at all? Though he was still bitter at the redhead for stealing from him, he felt more perturbed than angry by his dubious gesture.

Still, Roxas wasn't about to go out of his way to figure out what Axel was hinting at. He was determined to settle back into his ordinary life. And for a few days, it looked like he had succeeded.

But Friday it seemed, was not so agreeable.

Roxas left his chemistry class a little later than usual after Selphie Tilmitt spilled red solution all over their lab bench. Selphie was a sweet girl, but she was also notoriously chatty and paid little attention to her surroundings. Roxas agreed to be her lab partner because she was close friends with Kairi, and she also wanted to "patch things up" with him this semester. By that she was referring to two years ago when she confessed her feelings to Roxas and he politely rejected her. It was around this time that he realized relationships with girls were nowhere as appealing as they'd been made out to be by his male colleagues. Wanting to understand the excitement, he went out with a few girls who took an interest in him, but none of those exchanges made it past a few weeks of awkward dates and sloppy kisses. It comforted him to know that Riku wasn't really into that stuff either (which is probably why they got along so well), but Kairi was always complaining that the two were wasting away their good looks, and would probably die sad and alone at this rate.

By the time he reached Riku's locker (his was located closest to the cafeteria, and where the three typically met before lunch), the two were already waiting for him; Riku leaning casually against the wall of lockers while Kairi spoke animatedly about her plans for the weekend.

As they entered through the arched French doors of the cafeteria, Roxas could sense an unusual energy coming from the room. There were a lot more students standing than sitting, all crowded near the glass wall that led to the back patio. The ones sitting kept peering curiously over to the crowd, and then whispered back to their friends.

Wondering what the commotion was, the three approached the circle of students and found a narrow space where they could see past the cluster of navy-blue blazers.

It only took a brief glance to surmise the situation. Seifer was standing in the center, appearing as he normally did with a sneer that bordered on heinous. In front of him, another student was bowed directly at his feet, his head practically meeting the ground. Roxas couldn't make out who the student was at first, but when he lifted his head to look up at Seifer, Roxas recognized the dark-brown locks of hair that sprung waywardly from his head _. Pence._

Roxas wouldn't exactly call Pence his friend — they hardly spoke outside the classroom — but he was still fond of his classmate. Pence was a genuinely nice guy, and he never hesitated to help Roxas, even if he had to go out of his way to do so. Of all the students who were subjected to Seifer's torment, Pence was likely the least deserving.

"Did I say you could move?" Seifer barked, and Pence quickly pulled his anxious face back to the floor.

Roxas watched as Seifer calmly reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. He swiped the cloth over his white dress shirt where a small stain had settled into the cotton fabric. Then he gestured with a finger and Fuu appeared, holding what looked like a plate of greenish pasta with specks of white and black and round orange shrimp. It was probably a pesto dish. She handed the plate to Seifer and he examined it for a few seconds.

The crowd was quiet, but fervent. Roxas felt sick.

"The next time you eat this shit, do it in the fucking bathroom so I don't have to see your face," he spat. Then without pause, Seifer tilted the dish above Pence, letting the pasta slide crudely onto his head. There was a gasp from the students as the spaghetti tangled into his hair, the sauce dripping down his head while pieces of shrimp bounced to the ground. Pence winced but he didn't pull away.

Snickering emerged from the onlookers as Seifer tossed his handkerchief carelessly at the slimy mess below him.

The sight was enough to provoke Roxas, and he tensed, feeling a sudden desire to punch the smirk off Seifer's face. As if sensing his anger, Riku's hand gripped Roxas's shoulder and he squeezed firmly.

"Don't. It's not worth it, Roxas." He said it quietly, but in a frank tone. "There's nothing we can do."

The words trembled over the blond like spoken law, and he knew Riku was right. Seifer was untouchable in this school—he had his parents to fall back on so he'd never have to suffer humiliation the way he made countless others feel. But it still wasn't right… people like Pence didn't deserve to be treated like trash, disgraced and then branded as a running joke.

Roxas eyed a student next to him who pulled out their phone to take photos of the spectacle in front of him, laughing all the while. Seeing the act was enough to trigger a thought, something Roxas didn't think to consider until now.

He looked back at Seifer, letting the possibility settle in his mind.

While it was true there was nothing he could do, maybe there was something someone else could do.

* * *

Roxas spent the last two periods of the day distracted, contemplating whether his idea was worth a shot. It was dangerous, yes, and he wasn't even sure if they'd agree to his plan… but it was the only thing he could think of that would put a stop to Seifer's perverse reign.

By the time school ended he had weighed out the pros and cons in a very meticulous, Roxas-like manner, and he was decided.

Once he was situated in the back seat of his car, he pulled out his phone and typed out the text. His thumb hovered over the send button, however, as he thought it over one last time. Was this the right thing to do? _Of course it wasn't._ But when he pictured the way Pence looked, mortified with pesto sauce dripping down his head, he knew he didn't need to reconsider. He tapped down and watched as the text appeared on the screen above.

 _[ About that favour… ]_

Roxas stared nervously at his phone, waiting for a reply. It took a few minutes, but a text eventually popped up on his screen.

 _[ Who is this? ]_

Oh right. He was so worked up he forgot Axel didn't have his number.

 _[ Roxas. The one you robbed. ]_

The reply was faster this time, it came a few moments after Roxas sent his.

 _[ Burgled* huh, was not expecting to hear from u so soon.._ _Whaddya need? ]_

Biting his lip, Roxas typed out the text a number of times, not really knowing how to ask what he wanted. It took three tries, but he eventually settled with one that was concise and to the point.

 _[ I need you to steal something from someone's house for me. ]_

He waited, but Axel didn't reply right away like he thought he would. Five minutes passed by, and his eyes began to glaze over the screen. Why wasn't Axel responding? Was this his way of saying he wasn't willing to help? The silence agitated him and he began rethinking his decision to contact the redhead. Maybe this was a bad idea, after all…

He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that the incoming call startled him—he jumped when he heard his ringtone.

Axel was calling him. Already feeling on edge, Roxas peered at the rear-view mirror to see if his driver was looking at him, but he appeared focused on the road. Breathing out, he hesitantly swiped right to accept the call, and placed the phone gently against his ear.

"..Hello?"

 _"Roxaaas!"_

Axel was so loud that Roxas grimaced and had to pull his phone away from his ear. "Why are you calling me?"

 _"Had to make sure it was really you, ya know?"_

"…Okay, well now you know."

There was a brief silence from the other end before Axel's tone became a little more serious. _"So were you serious about the text? Cause that's kind of a huge favour."_

"Well you never specified so…" It seemed like Axel wasn't going to accept his request — and maybe that was for the best — so Roxas spoke quickly, intending to acknowledge and end the conversation before it drawled on. "Whatever, it's not a big deal, forget I asked."

 _"—Hey, I never said I wouldn't do it. I'm just making sure you know what you're getting yourself into. You would be complicit in a burglary if I got caught."_

Roxas nodded slowly, and then remembering he was on the phone, cleared his throat. "Yeah, I know."

 _"And you still want to go through with it?"_

"Yes." He'd already thought it out… this was the most effective course of action with someone like Seifer.

 _"Okay then. I'm just finishing up with something, so I'll get back to you in a few. You got plans tonight?"_

"No, why?"

 _"Just making sure. Don't wanna catch you at a bad time."_

The two said goodbye and Roxas spent the rest of the ride home feeling weirdly relieved over how well things were working out. He never once thought he would get involved with a criminal, but now that it was happening, he was already imagining Seifer's smug look being reduced to nothing. It was an undeniably satisfying thought.

* * *

Roxas expected a call back from Axel by the time he returned home, but his phone neither chimed nor rang. He decided not to think too much into it, and focused instead on finishing his lab report from his chemistry class. He pulled out his notes and recordings from a notebook, and opened the word processor on his laptop. It was supposed to be a six page report, which was normally no problem for the blond—but he was distracted today; his eyes kept straying from the screen of his laptop to the phone resting quietly next to it.

Did _"in a few"_ mean a few minutes, or a few hours?

By half past five, there was still no call, but Roxas had managed to focus most of his attention on his assignment, and was progressing well. He was five pages in, and working on the analysis portion of his report when he heard a knock on his door.

Dinner wasn't for another thirty minutes, so seeing his housekeeper standing by the foot of his door was an unusual sight.

"Sir, you have a visitor."

Roxas wasn't expecting a visitor today… and the only people who made impromptu visits were Kairi and Riku, neither of whom needed to be chaperoned to his room. "Who—" _Oh no._

The red hair that emerged from behind his housekeeper was enough to quell Roxas's curiosity, but the gaping shock he was now experiencing was far less desirable. Axel grinned when his eyes met Roxas — taking no heed of the blond's expression — and he raised a hand to greet him. "Yo!"

Roxas was speechless—frankly too afraid to speak, but he eventually managed to shoot up from his seat and pace to the door in a speed that was much too quick for someone hoping to maintain their composure. He forced an awkward smile as his hand gripped the mahogany door.

"Thanks… Ervin."

His housekeeper nodded, taking it as his cue to leave.

Axel watched him walk down the hall for a few moments before his attention returned to Roxas. "Nice guy," he commented casually.

Roxas had no patience for small talk. Not when Axel was waltzing into his house whenever he felt like it. Grabbing his wrist, he pulled Axel into his room as quickly as he could. The redhead stumbled a little from the unexpected force.

" _Sheesh_ , that really wasn't necessary."

Ignoring his comment, Roxas hastily shut the door and spun around. "What the hell are you doing here?!" He exclaimed. His hand was still holding onto the polished gold handle, his grip tightened as he spoke.

Axel smiled when he saw how flustered Roxas looked, it was always amusing how easily he became distraught. "I'm here to finish our conversation. You know the one about me breaking into someone's house for you?"

"But—" His throat felt parched. "Why would you use my _front door?_ "

Axel snorted. "Roxas… were you under the impression I only scale walls?"

A tiny part of him thought maybe—yes, he didn't know much about Axel aside from his ability to hop out of a four story building… but that wasn't the point. "No, I mean, what if someone saw you!"

Axel was apparently not concerned by that possibility because his expression remained fairly amused. "Have you looked outside? No one leaves their house around here." His attention diverted from Roxas as his eyes began to wander around the room. "Besides, who cares?"

Roxas said nothing, but he cared, of course. If news got to his parents that he was spending time with someone like Axel, he'd never hear the end of it. They'd probably ship him off to a correctional boarding school for the next few months before he started college. He trusted his housekeeper wouldn't tell, but the majority of his street was filled with hungry leeches waiting to suck out a scandal so they could discuss it in a condescending, " _I'm better than you"_ tone.

Roxas's troubled gaze followed Axel as he walked over to examine his bookshelf. It wasn't overly impressive height-wise—it was taller than Roxas, but still short enough for him to reach the top shelf without tiptoeing. But what made it special was its shape. It was a corner bookshelf, which meant it was angled at ninety degrees, and slipped into the corner of his room snuggly. A few feet from the shelf, there was a comfortable sofa chair and a small glass table where he could place a drink or put down the book he was reading. And next to the shelf was his bed. Sometimes when he couldn't fall asleep, he'd roll out of bed and relax in his chair with a book.

As he looked, the blond took the time to inspect Axel. He was wearing the same military jacket from the other day, but his hair was tied in a low ponytail this time. Roxas hadn't noticed it until now, but it explained why something looked different about him. He still had his spikes sticking out from the top of his head, but his sides were pulled back. With his hair out of the way, his ears weren't obstructed, and Roxas could see a number of studs running up his left cartilage. He didn't know a single person from this side of town with that many piercings; it was an odd sight to behold. Then again, nothing about Axel screamed normal. It made Roxas feel strangely plain in his white dress shirt and unmarked skin.

Axel brushed a finger across a few spines as he scanned the selection. "…Huh, interesting collection," he remarked.

It didn't occur to Roxas until now that he was holding his breath as he watched Axel survey his books. Could he be anxious over Axel's appraisal? …But that would mean he cared what Axel thought of him, which was ridiculous. Mentally shaking the thought from his head, he decided his agitation probably stemmed from the discomfort of having someone new in his room… not that Axel was "new" here, per se. The reminder made his lips twitch glumly.

Axel paused when he took in the sight of the extensive stockpile of dictionaries. The top two shelves on the left bookcase were lined with different colours and sizes, and there were more stacked on top of the shelf itself. He gave Roxas a curious look. "What's up with the artillery of dictionaries?"

"I like words," he replied succinctly. It was a legitimate answer, learning new words both excited and calmed him.

"But isn't it all the same? Why do you need so many?" Axel seemed genuinely intrigued by this strange appreciation.

"Most dictionaries have words that others don't. It depends on the edition and the location it's written in," he explained. "And some are aimed for a specific subject matter. Like a science dictionary."

"Wait, so you read this stuff for fun?"

Roxas nodded. "I record new words in a notebook and memorize them. It's kind of a hobby." He wasn't sure what prompted him to share this personal detail with Axel, maybe because he appeared so fascinated by what Roxas had to say.

Axel raised his eyebrows. "Wow, you're a way bigger nerd than I thought you were." Roxas glowered at the comment. What was so nerdy about liking a language? He was about to reply with a retort, but Axel continued talking. "So if you're a walking dictionary, why do you talk like a normal person?"

No one asked him that question before, Roxas thought about it for a second and then shrugged. "Not a lot of people would understand me if I used big words all the time."

"Is that so?" A faint smirk crept on Axel's lips as he studied the blond. "Okay, try it on me, then."

"What?"

"Try it on me," Axel repeated. "Say some big words and I'll see if I can define them."

It was an odd request, but Roxas saw no harm in it, so he decided he'd humour the redhead. He went into the part of his head that housed his extensive vocabulary, and pulled out the first word he could think of. "Intransigence."

Axel blinked. "…Pass."

"Verisimilitude."

"Pass."

"Pugnacious."

Axel furrowed his brows as he considered the meaning. "Having… pug-like qualities?"

He said it so seriously that Roxas had to contain a smile. He shook his head. "It's someone who's combative in nature."

"Impressive..." He echoed the word _pugnacious_ a few times under his breath to commit it to memory. "You're right, you should stick to your usual vocabulary. You could seriously destroy someone's ego with words like that."

Roxas was having a hard time remembering Axel as the guy who broke into his house and stole his things. Despite his odd appearance and tactless behaviour, Axel was actually kind of… likeable. He had no qualms about anything, and Roxas was both intimidated and intrigued by his strange antics. But just as he was growing to enjoy the redhead's presence, he reminded himself that Axel could easily be feigning a front to secure Roxas's trust. After all, he had no trouble lying to Roxas when he confronted him about his pen. _He's still a dangerous person_ , he thought. He couldn't let his guard down.

"Let's just finish what you came for," he said, changing the subject.

Axel noticed his voice fell flat again. The subtle changes in Roxas's mannerisms were easy to spot, but he had a hard time discerning what caused them.

"Alright," Axel stepped away from the bookshelf and dropped into the antique chair. He stuck a hand into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small brown notebook. There was a plain black pen hooked on the cover, and he removed it as he opened the book to a blank page. "I'll need as many details as you can tell me."

Roxas nodded and took a seat on the edge of his bed.

"First off, name?"

"Seifer Almasy."

He began writing, but paused and looked up at Roxas with a questioning gaze as he made the connection. "Almasy… like the Almasy's who own Cypress?"

Roxas was about to ask Axel how he knew, but realized the name probably wasn't that hard to recognize if he read the newspaper regularly. "Yeah, that Almasy."

"Whoa— okay, you need to tell me what's going on first… because if this is about a pen again I'm gonna have to ask you to dial it back and consider buying a new one."

"It's not—" he crossed his arms and looked down at a spot between his feet as he tried to work out how to explain things to Axel. "Seifer's… he's an asshole. He terrorizes everyone at school, and he's been doing it for years. If anyone tries to oppose him they usually get suspended or expelled."

"So this is some kind of retribution? You want me to steal his stuff so he feels shitty for five minutes before he buys it all back again?"

Roxas shook his head. "No, not all his things. Just his phone… or his laptop, whichever you can get your hands on."

"And then what?"

"We leave an anonymous note threatening him to stop harassing students… I'm betting there's at least one thing on his phone he doesn't want people seeing. It's a gamble, but if it works, it'll shut him up."

Axel's eyes widened as he listened to Roxas's plan. He wasn't expecting to hear something so well thought out and devious from the blond. "You're going to blackmail the kid? Jesus, that's fucked up."

Roxas didn't know how to respond. At his core, he knew it was wrong—he was pretty much stooping to Seifer's level… but he couldn't think of a single reason why Seifer didn't deserve it. He would rather be the one to pull the trigger than let him continue victimizing nice, innocent people like Pence. And on top of that, Seifer invested no little of his time and energy messing with Roxas. If anything, this was justified. Roxas was simply bringing balance to the school.

He raised his eyes to meet Axel's, preparing to defend himself, but Axel wasn't frowning with abhorrent disapproval. In fact, he wasn't frowning at all.

He was grinning. "Let's do it."

* * *

Later that night — after going through all the details and working out the kinks of operation "restore order by decimating Seifer", as Axel called it — Roxas called Riku. Axel left after most everything was settled, but they were still missing one detail. A date. Roxas had no way of knowing when the Almasy's would leave their house. If his parents were in town, maybe… but there was still one other person he could rely on to find out. Riku's family had close ties to the Almasy's, so if there was some kind of event they had to attend, the Almasy's would probably be there too.

Riku picked up on the third ring. _"Yeah?"_

"I need to ask you something, but you can't ask me why I'm asking," he said carefully. Roxas had filled his friends in about the confrontation with Axel, but chose to leave out the part about his phone number, mostly because he didn't know what to think of it at the time. If he told them they'd probably insist he delete the number, and he wasn't ready to do that.

 _"…What is it?"_

"Do you have any… social events coming up? Like business stuff?"

There was a pause. _"There's a dinner on Sunday, with a bunch of shareholders."_

"What time?"

 _"Uhh, around seven."_

"Do you know if the Almasy's will be there? Seifer included."

Another pause. He could picture Riku raising an eyebrow. _"…The parents, yeah, but I don't know about Seifer… What's going on, Roxas?"_

Roxas bit his lip. Riku was going to find out eventually, but he couldn't reveal it now, not when things were this close to working out. "I promise I'll explain everything on Monday. Can you text me during the dinner and tell me if Seifer shows up or not?" Roxas waited for a reply but Riku said nothing. He was probably trying to figure out what Roxas was planning. " _Please_ , Riku. This is really important."

He heard a sigh. _"Fine, but you owe me a real explanation on Monday. Not the kind of BS you tell Kairi to get her off your back."_

Roxas thanked Riku and hung up. He opened his inbox and texted Axel the details.

 _[ Sunday, 7:00pm, my house. ]_

* * *

As planned, Roxas let Axel into his house through the back door at 7:03 p.m. on Sunday. Axel was dressed in regular clothes, but he had a black backpack slung over his shoulders. The two retreated to Roxas's room and waited for a text from Riku.

"What happens if Seifer doesn't end up going?" Roxas asked nervously as he took a seat in front of his desk. He had gone through every scenario in his head, and Seifer catching Axel in his house was the one he was most worried about.

Axel shrugged as he dropped his backpack onto Roxas's bed. "I'll take my chances. He's just one kid, I can handle him."

That didn't reassure the blond. There were so many things that could go wrong. But if Axel said he could do it, Roxas wouldn't doubt him. He was the one risking himself, after all. Roxas could hear the faint sound of something being unzipped at he typed in Seifer's address into the Google Maps search-bar on his laptop. "Okay, so remember when you reach Hollow Road, you're going to cut through the small patch of woods. That way you'll reach his house faster and you're less likely to be spotted. Understand?"

Roxas spun his swivel chair around to see if Axel was listening, but his breath lodged in his throat when he realized Axel was standing a few feet from him, casually pulling his shirt up with both hands. Roxas could see the bottom half of his torso, and something small and black. Was that a naval piercing?

Roxas quickly averted his gaze. "W-What are you doing?!" He couldn't control the way his voice caught, the sight had thrown him completely off guard.

Axel paused and looked at him with a confused expression, his hands were still holding his shirt up. "…I'm changing. You didn't seriously think I was going to break into someone's house wearing this, did you?"

"You—there's uh… I have a bathroom right there," he said hastily, pointing to the first door across the bed.

Axel looked over in the direction he was pointing, and then back at Roxas. He didn't understand what was so off-putting, but Roxas's strained voice was enough for the redhead to grasp what was going on.

He pulled his shirt back down, to Roxas's relief. "Ehh, fine. I'll spare your rich virgin eyes."

Roxas was too flustered to think of a comeback. He saw plenty of shirtless bodies in the change-room during P.E., but there was something awkward about having someone else in his room with no clothes on. And Axel appeared way too comfortable with the situation, which only embarrassed Roxas more.

His thoughts were thankfully interrupted by an incoming text, he spun his chair back around to check his phone.

 _[ He's here. ]_

Roxas breathed a sigh of relief. This made things a lot easier.

Axel exited the bathroom a few minutes later, dressed completely in black. He was wearing a formfitting hoodie — the hood wrapped around the front like a collar that covered his neck and chin — and pants that didn't look very versatile, but he insisted they stretched. His hair was pulled back in a low ponytail again, and he was holding a black bandana in one hand. He placed his regular clothes on the ottoman in front of Roxas's bed.

"Seifer's at the dinner," Roxas reported, still too chagrinned to make direct eye contact with Axel.

"Perfect. Now we just gotta wait for the sun to set." Axel walked back to the side of the bed next to Roxas and fell back onto the mattress. He lay horizontally across the bed with his legs hanging over the edge and his feet still touching the ground. Even from his periphery, Roxas could see that he'd placed a forearm over his eyes, probably to cover them from the ceiling light.

Neither of them said anything for a while, and the silence was beginning to make Roxas uncomfortable, he needed to fill the void with _something_.

Roxas tried to think of a talking point, a detail of their plan they hadn't already gone over, but then he remembered something else. It was something he'd been wondering for a while now, but never found the chance to bring up. Now seemed like a better time than any...

He slowly peered in Axel's direction. "…Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead," Axel replied, maintaining his position on the bed.

"The night you were in my room… Why did you stop to look at me? You could've kept going and I never would've seen your face."

Axel peeked an eye out from under his arm to look at Roxas. He wasn't expecting that question. It took him a few seconds, but he eventually answered. "I was curious," he confessed. "I thought it was an empty house… but when I realized you were there, I had to look. I wanted to see your reaction."

"So you risked getting caught just because you were curious?"

"Well to be fair, I didn't think you'd go so far to track me down. People up here normally let others take care of those things. And kids usually don't report that kind of stuff."

Roxas pursed his lips. "I'm not a kid. I'm almost eighteen."

Axel removed his arm from his face and grinned at the rebuttal. "I said the same thing four years ago. But I was still a kid."

Four years ago… that would mean Axel was twenty-one now. Roxas carefully noted down the detail in his head, along with the other things he now knew about him. "Can I ask you something else?"

"You don't need my permission to ask me questions, Roxas."

"Why did you give me your number?"

A pause. "Dunno. Felt sorry for you I guess."

"But you're a thief."

Axel chuckled. "Thieves aren't totally heartless, believe it or not."

"So why do you do it? Why do you steal from people?"

"Because I need money, mostly. And you people have more than enough… also, it's fun."

"Fun?" He couldn't imagine what was so fun about risking an injury or going to jail.

"Yeah, like knowing how precarious things can be, but not giving a shit about it. It's a pretty great feeling when you go into something dangerous and come out unscathed."

So he was an adrenaline junkie? Roxas couldn't relate to that at all. "That sounds stupid," he responded blankly.

Axel laughed, unable to contain himself over how easily Roxas said that. His arm went back to covering his eyes as he fell into a chuckle. "Yeah, it probably is."

The room fell back into a silence, but this time Roxas didn't find it uncomfortable.

It took thirty minutes for the sun to fully set. When the sky reached a pale black, Axel got up from the bed and stretched. Then he tied the bandana around his neck, pulled up his hood, and slipped his backpack on. Roxas was hit by a strong wave of déja-vu as he watched the redhead pull open one of his windows. Except this time he knew exactly what was happening.

"Alright, so like I said, keep this window open and text me if they end up leaving the dinner early, or if something else comes up." Roxas nodded, he was so nervous he was starting to feel nauseous. Axel could sense his anxiety, so he offered him a reassuring smile. "Look, I've got this down to a math. I'll be in and out, forty minutes tops." Roxas nodded again but couldn't subdue the sick feeling.

Pulling the bandana over his nose, he climbed over the ledge of the window, and Roxas watched his dark figure slip effortlessly into the night.


End file.
